Matheson Crime Family
The Matheson Crime Family is a crime organization and trade consortium which has its headquarters in the city of Matheson in Maar Sul. Its current leader is Lord Vesuvius Matheson. The Family is at odds with the rival merchant city of Jardine and the Nightstalkers, and the rivalry eventually escalated into a brief Matheson takeover of Jardine as well as the Maar Sul Gang War against the Nightstalkers. History Origins The House of Matheson has existed since the dawn of the Third Age. It became one of the influential merchant families in Maar Sul, ruling over the city of Matheson. Over time the Mathesons became bitter rivals of another influential merchant family, the House of Jardine which ruled the city of Jardine, and the two houses feuded from time to time although never for long as they both served the House of Aurelac. The Mathesons were even more ruthless in their business dealings than the Jardines, and thus secured several companies under their wing, and their trade consortium became known as Matheson and Sons. Unbeknownst to the average Maar Sulais citizen, the Mathesons had not only an honest business front but also dealt with the black market and grew to become one of the most influential crime syndicates, the Matheson Crime Family, over the centuries. Third Age Distreyd Era "Old Man" Olkhovy Matheson, Patriarch of the Matheson Crime Family, had three wives with whom he had four children: Vesuvius and Galeras with his first wife "Una", Etna with his second wife "Secunda", and Koryaksky with his third and last wife "Tria". Each of Old Man Matheson's children was groomed for a different top position within the Family so that they could run the syndicate as a profitable business after his passing. They also inherited their father's hatred for the Jardines and would carry on his schemes to weaken the Family's business rivals by any means necessary. During the Yamatian Invasion and the subsequent Great War, both Jardine and Matheson were occupied by the armies of Yamato and the Clergy of Mardük. Despite Maar Sul being under the Yamatian yoke, the families didn't stop feuding, using their economic might in an attempt to cripple their rival family. When the Grand Alliance liberated the cities, the Jardines and the Mathesons helped in the war effort to reclaim the kingdom's lands and push Yamatians back, but as soon as the Cataclysm ended the war and returned things to status quo, the families began competing economically again as they had been doing for generations. Godslayer Era Backhanded Dealings By the time the old Patriarch passed away in the aftermath of the Cataclysm, his eldest son Vesuvius rose to become the new head of the Family and appointed Galeas, his only full sibling, as his right-hand man while their half-siblings Etna and Koryaksky were given lesser positions within the Family. When the Proninist Party invaded Maar Sul through Scundia, the Mathesons realized that this new threat could be profitable for them. Unlike the xenophobic Yamatians who had been troublesome to deal with in the previous war, the Proninists were more easily malleable, and Vesuvius arranged a deal to fund the Proninist campaign and give them vital information about weaknesses in Maar Sul's defenses in exchange of getting trade monopoly in Maar Sul as well as dealing a severe blow to his rivals, the Jardines. The Mathesons kept their involvement in the Proninist invasion a secret, pretending to help the Loyalists defend the lands against the Proninists in the Second Great War. By 1017 AE Jardine fell to the Proninists, and many prominent members of the House of Jardine were murdered under the Proninist regime. This allowed the Mathesons to seize many of the Jardine assets for themselves while keeping up the public image of honest businessmen who supported the Loyalists in the fight against the Proninists. Aggressive Negotiations The Mathesons ended up facing competition from an upstart criminal gang calling itself the Nightstalkers. Not tolerating new thieves seizing his territory, Vesuvius sent Koryaksky to deal with the thieves in what became known as the Maar Sul Gang War. Although Koryaksky was successful in crippling the Nightstalkers, he was murdered by Rafe, one of his own men, under orders from Vesuvius who had come to deem the pompous Koryaksky as a liability to the business. After the Grand Alliance pushed the Proninists back and liberated Jardine with help from Amarawyn Jardine, the Mathesons bided their time and waited until the Alliance had left the city relatively unguarded before they organized a secret coup and imprisoned Amarawyn, placing Galeras as the new head of Jardine via a forced marriage with Amarawyn. Ultimately this scheme fell through when the Alliance's task force, the Blades of Vigilance, caught wind of what had happened and helped depose Galeras and restore Amarawyn as the head of Jardine Corporation. With these recent developments the nobles of Maar Sul and their Alliance comrades have come to realize the double-dealings of the Mathesons, but so far the city of Matheson itself remains untouched due to Proninist backing and because the Mathesons command a big enough private army to keep invaders away from their holdings. Matheson stocks still remain in high standing in the market, and time will tell when the house will lose its prestige now that its double deals with Proninists have become known. Family Tree Notable members *Anya - spy *Etna Matheson - top member *Galeras Matheson - second-in-command *Koryaksky Matheson - top member (dead) *Olkhovy Matheson - old patriarch of the family (dead) *Rafe - assassin *Vesuvius Matheson - leader See also *Maar Sul Gang War *Matheson *Nightstalkers Category:Factions Category:Families Category:Maar Sul (nation) * Category:Third Age